Too Late
by angelbreaker
Summary: Set in New Moon. The Cullens have left but there are two more hostile vampires on the loose for the pack to worry about. But what if they didn't make it to the meadow in time to save Bella? Bella coping. First Twilight fic. R&R J/B and B/E later on
1. Chapter 1

Heya…First Twilight fic, sort of dragging at the beginning but it will get better. Tell me what you think and be REALLY encouraging or I'll never finish it.

Disclaimer: not mine, none of it.

Won't make it. Jake thought as he pushed his legs to go faster.

Be calm, Jacob, we'll make it. Sam assured him, although Jacob wasn't the least bit assured, he could feel the tension in the Alpha's body, calculating the distance, the time until Laurent struck.

Jacob felt his legs burn, why had they picked the other one? Why didn't he know that Bella would be looking for that stupid meadow on her own? How didn't he know that?

It's not your fault, Jacob, the woman was close to our lands, and she was the priority, our people, the treaty. Sam told him.

It's alright Jake. He heard Embry pipe in, trying to comfort him, but his thoughts were tainted with doubt, they could all smell the vampire closing in on her.

Jacob blasted into the meadow, and almost stopped dead in his horror. Laurent was on her, his teeth were sunk into her neck.

"NOO!!!!!!" Jacob's growl shook the trees and he leapt onto his friend's attacker, wrenching him from her and landing on him, Laurent was disorientated, vulnerable and bloodthirsty. Jacob wasted no time in ripping him to shreds, and Embry and Paul helped him with satisfaction. Sam and Jared's minds were still, and they hadn't left Bella's body laying in the meadow.

Once Laurent was torn from limb to limb, Sam came up behind Jacob.

Deal with the vampire. The Alpha's command was aimed at Embry and Paul, Jared went to help them.

Bella. Jacob's eyes were wild, his distrustful thoughts, this was not right, he didn't bite her, but he couldn't deny the blood that had spurted as he had pulled Laurent off, the blood that was all over him, the blood that smelled like Bella. He tried to push past Sam.

No, Jacob. Sam said, but it wasn't a command, even as his alpha, Sam wouldn't command Jacob on anything this crucial to his core existence.

She's dead, Jacob, you don't want to see. Something in Sam's thoughts made him distrust what he was saying. He pushed past him.

Bella wasn't dead. Jake whined as he sniffed her. Her eyes were faraway, shock, surprise and above all, pain etched across her face.

She's turning into one of them. Sam told him.

How? Does it hurt? Jacob asked, his eyes on her face.

I don't know, my lore on the bloodsuckers is a little sketchy. They were silent, staring at the body. The others were listening whilst doing their task, but knew enough not to say anything It was plain to see that she was in pain. A lot of pain.

There was silence for another few minutes as we looked at her there, powerless to save her.

You know what we have to do, Jacob. Sam told him.

No. Jacob answered, pleading. No, not her, anything but.

I may not know everything, but she will be one of them soon, and we will come against her again. It makes sense, stop it now, before she wakes, it will be as if that leech killed her.

Because I wasn't fast enough. Jacob was disgusted with himself, he'd failed her - he winced as she screwed up her face in agony, her eyes unseeing.

I can do it, you can just walk away. Sam offered, he wouldn't give me an official order and made that plain. A low growl sounded in my throat and I stood over her, facing him.

No, Bella is still in there. Jacob thought of Bella, of her life, of Charlie's feelings.

She'll kill people. Sam told him. This won't make you happy, better Charlie thinks she was killed by the big bear, then this, she may kill him.

No. Jacob said. As long as she's Bella, I'll protect her. She can live on animals, like the Cullens.

You have no idea what you're getting yourself into. Sam told him, hackles up and teeth bared.

You know I can stop you Sam, we both know I can, don't make me.

This is not just about you anymore, Jacob, this is what we are here for. Jacob heard the reluctant strong but compelling Alpha strains in his voice. Go I will deal with it.

With an enormous effort, one only Bella would have brought from him, he growled again. No.

Do it! Sam bared down on him, but Jake stood his ground.

No. There were a few minutes of standing off.

He'll know it's right eventually. It was Jared that spoke up.

I have to try and make this work. Jacob told them. I can't have her death on my conscience. She won't suffer because of my mistakes.

It's your funeral. Sam said, walking away.

Jacob lay down next to Bella's body, wandering what to do now. He wondered whether his heat hurt her…maybe he should sit away from her, he whined at the thought and shied away from her. He watched for what seemed like hours, but there was no giving up of the agony on her face. This wasn't what he wanted. He couldn't love her like this. She was going to be his enemy and there was nothing he could do, except, try and make it say for her. She'd still be Bella, Still Bella, Still Bella. He held onto that thought. Jacob sat down a little way away from her and howled.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Still just getting through the transition stages. It gets better, but I will warn that the beginning is all Bella coping with her vampirism, although Edward does turn up eventually. **

**Please review if you want more. I don't one anything.**

Three days, Jacob never left her for a second, his eyes always trained on her. He phased into his human form on the first night, tired of the others constant pleas for him to come to his senses. Embry brought him clothes, left them just outside the meadow, as if he was afraid of going in, and Jacob was glad of this unexpected thought. His nakedness would probably not help the awkwardness when she did wake up.

Embry also told Billy that he and Bella had gone camping and someone had packed a bag of Bella's things and a tent and brought it to the clearing. The pack weren't going near Bella, but they would do anything to help their friend.

Her hand twitched, and he gasped, it was the first movement. She'd screamed plenty, on and off, and he'd cried for her, holding her hand, but not knowing what to do, whether to move her, but then, he had nowhere to go, La Push was closed to her kind and no one else would have understood. The treaty was broken, but she was still human when that happened, he hoped that Sam would give her a chance.

Jacob had pitched the tent and again wondered whether to move Bella inside. She was in a lot of pain, and her skin was hot even to his standards, and he thought that maybe the cool air and dampness might help her a bit, so the tent was used to keep the clothes dry, whilst he slept next to her in his human form.

On the third day, Bella awoke with a gasp.

When Bella awoke she stayed very still for a moment. Dim and distant memories that tried to fade were brought into focus, Laurent jumped, and she…she was here. She saw Jacob sitting in front of her, his eyes pleading, but fearful and also on the edge of tears. She wondered why for several seconds. Nothing felt right, she wasn't her anymore: she felt different, but that was the only thing she could use to describe it. She was still her, but there were…feelings, not just emotional but her body felt different as well.

"Jacob." She said mildly surprised, now even more so because her voice was so strange. "What happened?" She was in the meadow, it was night time now but, yes she remembered that, she went alone, and Laurent was there. But where was he? And why was Jake here? Suddenly she was fearful. "Jacob get out of here, it's not safe here! I can't explain now, just let's run!"

"Bella." He whispered, his voice high and fearful, but not with the urgency she wanted from him. Surely Laurent would be here now, taunting, surely they would both be dead, yet Jacob sat here, quite content, apart from the fear in his eyes when he looked at her.

"What's wrong? What happened? Laurent…" She remembered.

"He bit you." Jacob told her.

"But how am I?" She looked to the scar on her hand, and then back at Jacob. And she saw it; she marvelled that she couldn't see it before, and put it down to shock. Everything was so much clearer, she could see dust motes in the air, even now in the dark. The smells, they were different too, and the sounds…

"I got him off you, he's dead." Jacob told her. "But you…I'm sorry, Bella, but he turned you."

"I'm a …vampire?" She heard the difference in her voice now, musical, so like _theirs_, and then everything went still.

After a while she started to laugh. Quietly at first, and then more and more hysterically. She stared to scream into the sky. "I came here to look for you, and now look at me! I guess I won then!" She screamed with laughter again. "I got what I wanted finally, but what does it matter? Why don't I even care?" She screamed, and then fell to her knees. Her face in her hands, and she was still. Stiller then Jacob had ever seen anyone. He approached cautiously, he had been noticed her grace as she had danced wildly around the meadow, the beauty in her mad face.

"Don't come near, Jake." She pleaded. "I'm dangerous."

"That makes two of us." Jake growled. "I won't let you get hurt, Bella, not anymore."

"Jake, I'm…I'm thirsty." She said brokenly. "Please don't come near." Jacob nodded. He jumped into the woods, taking off his clothes. He phased and caught an elk, he'd been hearing them hungrily for a while now, and then trotted back to Bella, placing it in front of her small form kneeling on the grass.

"Jake, I…" She didn't look up from her hands, and he quickly went back to his clothes and was back.

"I know, Bella, just drink, pretend I'm not here, I'll help you anyway I can. You can trust me."

Bella picked up the elk tentatively, and bit down, drinking with enthusiasm. Jacob realised that this wasn't enough to satisfy her. He went and caught her several more. She drank them all.

"Thank you." She said in a small voice. They sat in stillness. "What do we do now?"

"Do you want me to find them?" Shock registered on her face. "I know, about the Cullens, that they are blo- that they are like you are now." He'd been coming to terms with it for days now, trying to make some way it would be okay, trying to get over the hatred he had for himself, the way he had ditched her. He would have been with her when she got to the meadow if only he'd spent a little more time with her…but the words still burned in his throat as he tried to put into words what she had become.

She nodded, obviously overwhelmed. "You don't smell human." She told him. She stared at him suspiciously and he noticed her eyes, big staring and fire red.

He was expecting this and swallowed down the horror of her eyes. "I'm not, I'll show you." He darted into the tent to stash his clothes, and then came back as a wolf. She watched him, frightened, and he climbed back into the tent to phase and stuck his head out whilst he changed, to show her it was him.

"I see." She said and took a deep breath. "Makes sense I guess. Vampires, Werewolves, why not? One of your Quilete legends was true, why not all of them. So you aren't you going to kill me?" She held her wrists out. "That's what you do isn't it?"

"No, Bella, I'm not going to kill you." Jacob told her firmly. "You're still Bella, and this is my fault, if I…" He wasn't going to go through it again, his brain couldn't handle those doubts and ifs and buts that had been plaguing him.

"It's not your fault. I'm a danger magnet, you can't watch me all the time." She shut her eyes and remembered with a jolt the voice she had heard as Laurent jumped, Edward screaming and growling in pain even as she did. The voice was silent now, he wouldn't need to protect her now, the worst had happened and she could protect herself.

"You aren't reacting well, Bella." Jacob told her, uncomfortably.

"I am." Bella said. "My head is so clear, I can think about things faster now. You smell repulsive." She snapped her head up to look at him, and he grinned a little, even though her quick movements deeply disturbed him, she was still Bella underneath.

"Yeah well, you're not such a great smell to my nose either." He sat down. "You want me to find them? They can help you cope so much better."

She thought about this.

"No." She said. "No, he left me to save me and now I am a vampire." She started laughing again. "He told me he didn't want me anymore, and I doubt that has changed now I am like him, maybe he wouldn't want me even more." She whispered under her breath and he thought it sounded like "he'll blame himself". "No, I don't want him here."

Jacob nodded. So like Bella, to go through something like this alone just to spare another's pain.

"It's strange. I thought that as a newborn vampire, I'm supposed to be a monster. A full blown killing machine with no conscience. But I'm not. I can smell the town, I can smell the people and I don't want to kill them." She was talking slowly, as if to herself, staring at the floor again. She held herself strangely, like she was trying to shrink from herself.

"That's one thing I guess." Jacob was completely out of his depth.

"I can do it." Bella told him. "I'll go somewhere and live alone, perhaps Africa or something, and I'll be able to not hurt anymore."

"No Bella, no. Stay here with me, I can protect you." Jacob told her.

"I can't, I'm a monster and your kind exist to kill me." Bella told him. "I'll go alone, no one will find me." He knew what she was thinking now.

"You can't just leave, you're my best friend and we promised, what about Charlie? What do we tell him?" Jacob asked, desperately fishing for reasons for her to stay.

She was silent for a long time. "Okay, I'll stay, I'll need…protection anyway, guidance, to keep me straight, I think, I'm not really sure how to do it." She gave him a weak smile.

"Okay, what do you need me to do." Jacob said.

"An excuse. I think I can do it, but I have to practise first. I shouldn't just go back to Charlie tonight. Just give me an excuse, I'll be here."

"Will you be okay?"

"Well, from my knowledge, I won't be cold, and I won't sleep. I just need a few days to…adjust. Please, I'll be fine, just go."

"The others in my pack are cautious; they think I should have killed you where you lay."

"I will speak to them; tell them I will honour the treaty." Bella told him.

"The excuses are made, I think Embry got my father to call and tell him we went camping. You were out for three days, Bella."

"Three days." Bella nodded. "I forgot."

"I will need to go and speak to my pack, though."

"I will be here."

"I'll be back before sunrise." Jacob said, and turned and ran.

Billy wasn't home. Good, he was probably with Charlie out fishing or something. He hadn't phased on the way back, not wanting them to know that Bella was unprotected. He showered, and it felt good, and then walked out into his front yard. They were there, waiting for him, and he walked carefully into the forest before he phased, leaving his towel on the forest floor.

Well? Sam's voice was apprehensive,

She was shocked. But she is well. She won't kill humans.

We've been watching you.

Jacob nodded once. He'd thought as much.

Leave her be. Let her try. She will not break the treaty.

We feel as guilty as you Jacob. Sam told him. Jacob didn't think that possible. We know it wasn't her fault, we will give her a chance, but only one, and we will be watching _closely_. We will give her the benefit of the treaty, but make no mistake that it is only for your benefit, and because I feel responsible, also her associations with the Cullens. Anyone else would have died when they were bitten.

She will not let you down. Jacob assured them.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: A little short, but I feel guilty not giving you an update on this...I've been trying to make sure it's not going to be like others of it's kind...I hope it's not...I envisioned a lot more emotion in it and I can't help myself from changing it again and again until I was like "STOP! JUST LEAVE IT!!!!" So...sorry :P. Read my other stories – Especially What Doesn't Kill You, which I'm on hiatus from at the moment (sorry) – but I think I'll be going back to it with the stress of exams!!**

**I don't own Twilight.**

The silence was never…just so anymore, even though Bella desperately wanted it to be. She needed to shut things out, the pain, the misery, the loneliness, but she knew she wouldn't even be able to sleep anymore. Nothing would ever be the same, and the irony was not lost on her. He left so that this wouldn't happen, and because he left it did. Jacob was supposed to kill vampires, and through his actions one was made. She wondered distantly whether Alice had seen her already, and whether the Cullen family on mass were descending upon her this very second, but wouldn't they be here already? She was bitten four days ago, and it's never taken them that long to get anywhere. She was pleased, though, she wanted Edward with a longing that she could hardly bear, and she thought that that desire was helping her to stick to the all animal diet without help, although she couldn't be sure. She'd taken down some more near gain, wanting to be here by when Jacob returned. She knew her survival depended on him now, because she wouldn't be able to fight off his pack, although she knew nothing about them. They took down Laurent, therefore she would be a walk in the park. Better to wait here.

Edward, everything floated back to Edward…was his head always filled with so much noise? No wonder vampires are easily distracted. Did she really smell _better_ to him then the other humans in the town? She didn't know how that could be possible, she held her breath, because she didn't really need it anyway, and hoped that none of them came closer, not until she was ready for it. Her startling self control did vex her, but she was too drained to even think about it, it was still like a dream to her. She felt that if she merely left the meadow and went home, that nothing will have changed, that she was still be human and that Edward…no, that part would still be the same, she would still be alone. Pathetic as it was, she didn't want the dream to end, so even though Edward was not here, at least she still had a link, one that caused her great pain, but a link nevertheless, and wasn't that what she was looking for?

But she could never see him again, never should their paths meet, it would cause him too much pain, she would walk 100 years alone, like he did, and then, maybe when all memories of her was gone, she would seek him out, so that they could truly appreciate their love, if still they harboured any.

She allowed herself a small smile for her melodrama. That wasn't the reason she could never seen him like…this. She couldn't face him because she couldn't live without him. She literally died because he was not there, because she wanted to find some sort of echo of him, the reason she'd even sought this stupid meadow. To see if she could feel him, and now she was embarrassed, because he'd told her not to, and she didn't listen, and now if he ever knew what had happened, he would know that she can't take care of herself, she was dependant on him and she wouldn't allow him to know that. She would wander alone because she can't be left alone. His eyes, so cold when they last spoke, a memory that was dim but still painful. He didn't want her, and less so now she was not human, she wagered, he may take her back out of…pity, and then she would have to spend forever with the Cullens, a naughty girl who didn't listen.

She felt ice grow around her still heart, she despised him more now then she ever did for leaving her, for taking the reason of her existence with him, and now she was condemned to misery forever, at least before she only had maybe another 60 years before she could finally be free of the longing, at least she had death to look forward to back then. Ack…being undead really puts you in a morbid mood.

There was a cough and she realised something she knew all along, that Jacob had been watching her from the woods, she hadn't heard him but she could have smelt his wolfish stench anywhere, she'd just been lost in her own thoughts. She must practice that, to always be aware, not to let her own thoughts surround her so completely.

"Jacob." She said, summoning a smile. "How is everything in La Push?"

"They are willing to give you a chance, as they understand all too well how this happened and they are trying not to judge. They think of Charlie, and grudgingly of your old friends, anyone else would have died the day they were bit."

Bella nodded, ignoring the stabbing feeling of thoughts of her "old" friends, who have not come when surely Alice would not have missed _this _with her gift. She realised that he was speaking formerly, as an ambassador of the pack, that he was building bridges with this new and disturbing problem that has threatened their peaceful community. She nodded at him. "I appreciate it. Tell them that I will keep off your land." Her lips trembled, the best times of her life were spent in the reserve with Jacob, and now she will never sit with him in his homemade garage again. "I'm sorry that one…of my kind broke the treaty."

"They know that you were nothing to do with that, opposite of that in fact, we were all present." Jacob was frustrated with how he was being shut out of her inner emotions. He'd always known how she felt, she'd been easy to read, but now with her freaky eyes and her pale smooth face and dark circles, she was a closed book.

"Promise me one thing." Bella asked, not looking at him.

"Anything." Jacob said.

"They must never know." She said. "Even when they come back, even in 50 years and we're still here, they must never know."

"Okay." Jacob was happy about that, anything that meant _he _was out of their life meant only good things to them.

"Especially him." She said, as if she could read his mind. "When he's around, don't think about me, not even if he asked." She looked at him. "Nothing, not a flicker of a thought must cross your mind, because he'll know."

"Why? Can he read minds or something?" Jacob smirked.

"Yes. Everyone's but mine." She told him. Jacob swallowed his smirk and nodded.

"Not a flicker, nowhere near him, promise."

"Good."

*****

Bella stayed in the meadow for three more days, making a week all together. Jacob stayed with her when he could, but a lot of the time he felt like he was trespassing where he shouldn't and he couldn't stand the smell, so he generally dropped in three times a day to check on her and make sure she had everything she needed. The others in the pack were keeping guard over the meadow, watching her but leaving her the distance for privacy, Jacob accepted that.

"I'm ready." Bella told him on the third day.

"Are you sure?" Jacob asked anxiously.

Bella took a deep breath. "Yes." She sighed. "It should take over a year for me to develop this much self control, but I've been ranging closer to the towns when hunting, even saw someone. It was hard, but if I'm going to stick around…I have to do it soon."

Jacob nodded. "When?"

"Tomorrow afternoon, it's going to rain, I can smell it. I'll drive my truck home. It's still out…where I left it." The site of that first kiss, she thought with a shudder.

"I'll come with you." Bella nodded.

"Tomorrow I rejoin society." She gave him a small smile.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I haven't completely decided this is a great idea, but I'm going to update this story. It's weird how perceptions change as you grow up, but at the moment for some reason this story is connecting to me more than any other. Which consider I was around 16 when starting to write most of these…and am perilously close to my 26****th**** birthday….yeah. Anyway – as ever let me know what you think.**

**Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer.**

They met at the truck the next day at dusk, an overcast day as predicted. Neither talked as they climbed into the car, and Jacob could feel that Bella was completely drained, nervous and depressed. He took a deep inhalation, ignoring the vampire smell, and blew it out again, at least he could still get a read on her sometimes, maybe it was because the meadow had been so…alien. She seemed more like herself then she had done all week.

"I brought something for you." Jacob told her, and she looked at him curiously. He brought out a pair of sunglasses. "For your eyes, Charlie isn't going to be able to deal with that." Bella nodded and slipped them on.

"Thanks."

"You…okay?" He asked, as she sped along the road.

"I'll be fine, I hunted last night." She gave him a weak smile, it felt so weird thinking about things that…he…had to deal with, it may it so much harder, but in another way she felt it was easier, a true break from his Bella. "I'm sorry I've been out of it, I'll try not to be."

"Okay. But what about, you know, eventually, when you don't age?"

"I'm trying very hard not to think about that yet." Bella told him.

They got to Charlie's house and his cruiser was in the driveway. Bella got out and checked herself. She was feeling good, and in control. His smell was burning her throat…she didn't realise up close it would hurt this much, but she knew she could do it. This was Charlie. Her self-control shocked her again. All she had been told about new-borns lead her to believe she should be an animal now, but she wasn't. She had rational thoughts – ones that overrode her animal instincts. Hot, fresh blood….but it was Charlie's – her father's. She would not hurt him. She walked in the door.

"Bella." Charlie was there, sitting on the sofa, watching the game as usual. "Billy called, he said you'd be back today."

"Hi dad, yeah, I saw him earlier." Bella said, her human voice was a little strained, but she'd been practising it a lot the last few days. Her throat was really burning, which helped with making it sound less musical. She'd also practised shifting like a human, because she'd noticed Edward was always too still sometimes. Every thought back to those days made her jolt, but she knew they were a lifeline now. She needed to remember.

"You guys have fun?" His eyes never left the TV screen.

"Yeah, it was great. We hiked, and swam and even fished a little." Bella wondered if she was going a bit over the top, and then stopped with a small smile, and swung her hands when she forgot she was being too still, then bounced a bit like she remembered doing when she was tense before.

"You know, I'll never get used to the new out-doorsy Bella…" His voice was amused and his eyes swung up from the TV to look at her face. The amusement dropped from his voice as he saw her.

"You hungry dad?" Bella said, her human voice high with the tension, breaking the short and loaded silence. He hadn't moved since he saw his daughter. "I'll make you your favourite, I've been neglecting you this last week." She swung into the kitchen, and realised that she used to be clumsy and pretended to bump into the door frame. She got out the ingredients and started making the food, thinking all the time to think human, be slower, make mistakes, and she bit her lip in concentration.

"Go home Jacob." She heard Charlie tell Jacob, who hesitated.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Jake." Bella told him, half smiling whilst turning quickly to him and then back. Jacob left reluctantly.

Bella turned to the food again, speeding up in her anxiety, and she almost forgot to almost drop the bowl she was mixing. She stopped cooking when she caught it, Charlie's eyes on the back of her head. She couldn't turn to look at him, and in her fright, she even forgot the thirst that his smell was exciting in her.

"What happened?" Charlie asked, his voice high with fright.

"I tripped." Bella told him, staring out of the window. "I just tripped." It was a pathetic excuse, but panic had seized her throat. It was the only thing she could think of.

Charlie was silent, and Bella carried on with the meal, trying to pretend like nothing had happened. Charlie caught her hands in an unexpected show of affection.

"Bella. What happened?" He asked her again, more seriously.

"I tripped, Dad. Please leave it at that…I'm still Bella, your daughter." Her eyes pleaded with him, she knew he didn't buy it, but if he reacted badly she didn't know what she would do. She wasn't sure if she would cope, finally snap and kill him, or even if that didn't happen, how she would cope with the loneliness.

"Okay, Bella." He said and dropped her hands, going to sit at the table. She continued to cook and placed the meal in front of him. "Aren't you going to eat?"

"I'm not hungry." She told him, trying to shrug it off. "I ate earlier, but I'm pretty tired, tents are not good places to sleep." She gave him a small smile. "I'm going to go to bed."

"Okay." Charlie said, and she felt him watch her all the way out of the room.

Bella stormed up to her room and sighed, running her hands through her hair. This was bad, this wouldn't work. Charlie knew something was going on and the others would too. Also she wasn't sure whether she could go back to school just yet. Charlie was one thing, she loved him and he was just one human, but hundreds just walking around? She took a breath, she could do it. Even though she wasn't tired, and wouldn't ever be again, she curled up on her bed and began to fume.

Why did this have to happen? It was the worst of the worst and a horrible twist of irony on her dreams. How many times had she dreamed of becoming a vampire, waking up to her new life with Edward there, and them spending the rest of eternity together? But now he left, telling her he never wanted to see her again, was never coming back for her, and now she will spend eternity alone. To seek him out? Too horrifically embarrassing. Him coming back? If his actions when he left was any clue, not going to happen. She would stay in Forks perhaps until graduation and then pretend to go to college and then just shrink away, no matter what Jacob said. Again she pictured Edward face if he ever saw her, accusing and filled with pain, and she shook her head. They'll be back one day, perhaps after they thought she was dead, and she won't be here. Her heart wrenched at the idea that the people she once thought of as family were hiding until she died. It was more real now, then the imaginings of the meadow.

Anger rippled under her skin, frustration and fury and just…anger. There was no way out, nothing left for her. She lost Edward for a shot at a normal life and now she can have neither. She wanted to get, punch something, fight someone, kill someone. She started towards the window, her urges out of control, and she started to slide up the window, until someone on the other side opened it faster.

Jacob slid in the room, and examined her face carefully.

"Go away, Jacob, I'm going out for some air." She told him.

"Not without me." He said, and followed her out of the window.

She stalked ahead, furious. She was condemned to walk alone through existence and she wasn't allowed to do even that. Jacob was keeping close to her, not letting her out of leaping distance. Well, she'd been looking for a fight so she might as well make it a reasonably fair one. She led him carefully into the woods.

"Bella, hold up." Jacob had had enough, and was obviously satisfied she wasn't going to massacre the townspeople and be chased with pitchforks and burning torches.

"Leave me be, Jacob." She knew that he wouldn't, and was only saying it to bait him into a fight. He maddeningly seemed to realise this and took a deep breath to calm down. She wanted to fight, and he was the only supernatural punching bag who she could release some tension on.

"You know I won't do that." He told her, his voice with more authority then she'd ever heard before. She hissed and turned around to him.

"I'm not your little pet vampire, Jacob Black. I promised you that I won't kill a human, and until I break that promise keep your side of the treaty and stop bothering me!" He looked hurt by her words, and she felt a distinct satisfaction in that. There was no remorse for her words, some of the fury of the newborn vampire had finally got to her, she had snapped, finally.

"Bella…" Jacob said quietly, his voice and face full of grief. She rolled her eyes.

"Like it or lump it, Jake, we're enemies, so stop following me around like a lovesick puppy and get back to your kennels." Anger flashed through his face now, and this signalled around ripple of satisfaction in her. She started to try and push past him and stalk off, the woods was not as attractive as they had seemed a minute ago. Jacob stopped her. "I will hurt you Jacob."

"Try." Jacob's response came out as a growl. Bella looked up at him, and Jacob pushed her against a tree. "You've always dismissed me, even when you were spending everyday at my house, I was always just a distraction from _him._"

Bella was stunned at this reaction, she wanted him angry, but the cold fury was unexpected.

"Even now, he's out of the picture, and I'm saving your life, being the hero, trying my best and even now you cast me aside!" He growled again. "No Bella, I'm stronger then you've ever gave me credit for, and you're going to respect that."

"Yeah?" Bella's aggression peaked, as her new vampire anger surged through her. "Why should I even bother with you? I'm an immortal and you're nothing but a DOG!" At the last word she swung her fist around and hit him with her full strength, and felt exhilarated when he flew backwards and broke a tree.

"You'll pay for that _leech_." It was obvious his supernatural anger issues weren't holding up well either, and he stood up rushing at her. She leapt, into the branches of the trees, and ran along the lengths of it, skipping from one tree to another like an imp.

"You'll have to catch me first." She told him, and he was off, chasing her across the forest floor. She was quieter than him, and the branches gave her an advantage as she swung down and kicked him in the back as he ran. He fell down and she landed on him, his face pushed into the dirt. She crouched down and kissed his neck, whispering "tag" in his ear. He roared with anger, and grabbed her arm, throwing her off in this awkward position. He phased as he jumped and landed on her sprawled body, his claws trying to scratch her skin, but feeling no purchase. She struggled with him, trying to get him off of her, her breath getting ragged as she got more and more angry, he could see the desperation in her eyes and something made him stop. He phased back into a human and fell on top of her, suddenly kissing her with a passion. She kissed him back with more passion and then pushed him off of her with a strength that made him gasp, and suddenly she was on him their lips crushed together. He grabbed her and rolled until he was on top again, not breaking the kiss, but roughly grabbing her hair to pull her closer.

She pushed him away and he hit a tree. She was breathing heavily, shock radiating through her body. She'd have to watch all sides of her self control, as obviously when she goes into rage it's not just violence she was capable of. He assumed a defensive position but she could see there was a smirk on his face. _Good old Jake…_ She thought bitterly.

She took off into the woods towards her home, and jumped through her window in one fluid movement, slamming the window shut in the process.


End file.
